38 Weeks

Laura is now 38 weeks pregnant and is happy to be so close to the end! Her legs have finally stopped hurting her even though she still has the varicose veins. At her last doctor's appointment, she was 1 cm dilated and 60% effaced. She has been having cramping and Braxton Hicks contractions that have become more regular so she was hoping to be further along than that. Fortunately, they are not causing her too much pain and discomfort. We are all anxiously awaiting baby Bean's arrival and are hoping it will come sooner rather than later! Perhaps a Super Bowl baby similar to Caitlynn's arrival on a football playoff Sunday. We will have to wait and see!

A baby shower!

Laura's work, Monarch Academy, threw her a surprise baby shower. It was put together by her two team members, Carie and Caroline. How they managed to keep it a secret is beyond her! Ryan just happened to drop her off at work at day so he was able to join in as well! Baby bean received lots of great gifts including: hooded towels, wash clothes, bath time items, diapers, diapering items, onesies, sleep sacks, Sophia the Giraffe, and gift cards to Target and Babies R Us. Unfortunately, no one took any pictures at the party so all we have is a picture of all the gifts at home. It was a great surprise and we feel very fortunate for every ones generosity! No all we need is baby Bean to come and enjoy all of his/her new items!

Winter Storm and Sledding

We finally got a winter storm that left a decent amount of snow on the ground. Laura had off from work so she decided to let Caitlynn go out and test out the snow. Caitlynn walked around in it but didn't like it when her feet started to sink in the ground. However, she loved being pulled around on the sled she got for Christmas. Since Ryan went to work and Laura is so big from being pregnant, she didn't get to many rides around the neighborhood. Here are some pictures from her adventures in the snow!

It's an Elmo Party!

Caitlynn loves Elmo right now so we decided to throw her an Elmo party for her 2nd birthday. Since she had so many parties last year, we decided to keep it small and just invitied her grandparents, aunts, and uncles. Popi, Mimi, and Uncle Rusty came down from PA. Nonna and Pop-pop and Uncle Richie and Step came down from NJ. Even her Uncle Andrew and Aunt Kitty came all the way up for NC, which was quite a special treat for all of us! She was spoiled as always and received a lot of great gifts including: books, a toddle-sized backpack, clothing, a Disney dinner set, paints, an Elmo and bath time baby doll, blankets, a Snow White quilt, money, and a DVD player for the car (which Mommy and Daddy loved the best!). Her favorite gift probably was a Sesame street couch that folds out to make a toddle sized bed. She loved sitting on it and unfolding it to make a bed for herself and her baby dolls. We are not really sure where we are going to store all of her presents while they are not in use but I sure we will find room somewhere! It was a great time spent with the people closest to Caitlynn.

Caitlynn's new room

Caitlynn has been in her "big girl" room for about 3 months now as we will soon need her old room for baby Bean. We have slowly been getting all the pieces together for her room which has become a flower and butterfly theme. While Uncle Andrew and Aunt Kitty were up form NC celebrating Caitlynn's birthday and spending time with the family, we asked Aunt Kitty to paint some flowers and butterflies on the walls. We don't know how she does it but she was able to add beautiful art on her walls in less than half a day! Here is Caitlynn's reaction when she got to see her room for the first time....

As you can tell, she loved the added art in her room! Aunt Kitty said it was the best reaction she has ever gotten from something she painted. We are all very pleased with the outcome!

Guess who has now turned two!

Caitlynn is now two! We have not idea how this last year has flown by so quickly but she sure has changed a lot! At he doctor visit today, she weighed 24 lbs 4 ozs and is 33 3/4 inches tall. He said she has hit or exceed all of the "2 year old" milestones and he is very happy with her development. She did not have to get any shots, which made her a happy camper, but daddy let her eat a lollipop anyways. What a sucker!

She is running all over the place and can climb up on almost everything! She is able to put some of her clothes on all by herself but she mostly enjoys taking everything off and streaking in the house. She knows all of her colors, can count up to 13 (but likes to skip 4) and knows some of her letters. She can recite some nursery rhymes and even a few lines from her favorite books. She can name everyone in her immediate family, including the dogs! When she is talking to us, she is very easy to understand and other family members are even able to tell what she wants. Her sentences are three words long at the short end and can go up to six or seven words. Though we don't know where she gets her chattiness from! She is quite content playing with her toys all by herself but she mostly loves playing with her baby dolls. She is a joy to have in our lives and we continue to be amazed at how quickly she is picking up and doing new things all the time! we can't wait to see how she is going to react to baby Bean though we know she really is going to be a great big sister!

Read to me!

We met Popi, Mimi, and Uncle Rusty in Hunt Valley to have dinner. The book store has a kids section so we always go there afterwards to let Caitlynn run around and play. She found her favorite bedtime book, Good Night Moon, and decided she wanted Uncle Rusty to read to her. She gave him a big version of the book and she got a smaller version for herself. It was just too cute not to share!